Broken Toys

Genesis 2:18 says:
"And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
 
2 Corinthians 6:14 says:
"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?"

I had an epiphany today, and like most epiphanies, it happened while I was in the bathroom. (I was showering, of course!) I thought about girls who invest time and emotions dating guys who aren't equally-yoked with them spiritually—just to prove to themselves that they are ""worthy" of dating them, when their "worthiness" depends on their ability to change that man into the one they truly desire. These girls are like a person who would invest money and effort on fixing a broken gadget to prove their intelligence—where there "intelligence" would depend upon their ability to get the item in working order again. 

100% of the time, we cannot change a person. Just like we cannot fix a gadget with a manufacturer's defect. It is only if that person allows God to truly speak to their heart—without our intervention—that their actions will truly change. The same goes with the broken piece of technology. We cannot fix it. Its updates have to come from the manufacturer. 

A lot of girls want what they see in the movies: 'Good girl next door' changes the heart of the troubled rebel in her Physics class. That's Hollywood. If a man is changing himself for a woman, and a woman alone, it will not last. If he's found a good thing, and he wants to keep it, changing himself for her will only be a temporary fix. Five or ten years down the road, when all the "newness" and butterflies of the relationship wear off, those bad habits he changed for her will slowly come up again. It will cause arguments and make things hard. True change can only come from the creator (or manufacturer) of our heart. 

A girl's worthiness should not depend upon her ability to cause a man to change his bad habits. Her ability to be truly loved shouldn't be linked to her changing the way of life for someone else. Instead of buying broken toys, she needs to look for the ones that are already fixed. 

It's not easy in this day and age to find someone who is committed to Christ like it was back in the "good ole days." Our country has come so far from being founded upon God. Praying to Him has been taken out of schools, "Under God" is slowly being removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, and it's even been threatened that our dollar bills will no longer state that either. However, if a Christian girl (or guy) wants to have a Godly relationship, they cannot convince themselves that what they see in the here and now is all that's out there. I'm not saying that the people in their life aren't good people, but religious differences isn't something to brush under the rug. For most Christians, it's a big deal. If we cannot agree upon these issues now, what good will a ring and a piece of paper do for us in an argument three years from now?


"...We both got a lot on our plate and we don't wanna make
A mistake that will take us away from the Way...

...I'm so anxious but true love's worth waitin for so I'm
gone stay patient, 
I can't ignore this feelin inside but I can control it,
So let's take our time and slowly move forward...

If you're second guessin, lets ask the tough questions
Test this love to see if it's for real ..."
—B. Reith


Music to inspire you: "U Should Know—B. Reith
 

A Fruit Tree in Winter

Jeremiah 17:7-8 says:
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit."

From The Daily God Book

"I can be changed by what happens to me.
But I refuse to be reduced by it."  

—Maya Angelou 

 Life has a way of messing up our plans. Plain and simple. We send up prayers—which sometimes get answered, sometimes don't, and sometimes make us wait. It's all about finding a balance and focusing on the eternal matters. We must remember that not every bad circumstance in life is a tragedy. As my pastor once said, stop placing "$1,000 worth of emotion into $2 problems."

Life has a way of changing us. Sometimes it's for the better and sometimes it's for the worst—we get to decide. While we cannot control what circumstances come our way, we can control how we handle and react to them. We need to be strong. 

If God showed me all I would've had to deal with these past two years at the exact time I'd be dealing with them I'd say, "Ahhh... no thank you, nevermind!" And I probably wouldn't be the same person I am today because of it. I wouldn't know the courage it took to quit my job (in a failing economy) to open a dream business (which I had no prior experience at) that I would manage for the first two months w/out my business partner (as my sister gave birth to my second nephew opening week) while dealing with the tragic loss of my best friend (whose funeral I attended two days before we started training our staff). Talk about a whirlwind of emotions—let alone fatigue! I've got the flesh of a 25 year old w/ the life experiences of an 80 year old. 

All of what I've been through reminds me of a scene I watched a few weeks back from one of my favorite shows (Private Practice). In it, one of the characters asked her friend, who was dealing with a terminal illness, "How do you do it?" Her friend replied, "Honey, we're women. Strength finds us." It's true.

I like today's quote because it's relevant to this Winter season. A lot of times, the colder, darker days can bring about a sense of sadness. While our life may not have changed drastically for the worse, there's something about the chill and lack of light that can damper a mood. And if we are going through troublesome times, it only intensifies our emotions.

This makes me think of Mercy Me's newest hit 'You Are I Am.' I think they're an awesome God-inspired band and the lyrics to this song really spoke to me. I've definitely been the person they describe: doubting God, questioning His love for me, wondering if He even cares about my pain... And yet, I'm still here, pressing on. I'll get little whispers from Him now and then regarding my worries—if I look close enough. Sometimes it's through a verse I happen to come across, a loved one who happens to say the exact thing I need to hear, or a sense of peace that, even if I did screw up, He's capable of putting it back together. 

As long as I'm seeking Him I can't be far of course. If I'm placing Him first in my life than surely I can't be ruining it.

"I've been the one to shake with fear
And wonder if You're even here
I've been the one to doubt Your love
I've told myself You're not enough

I've been the one to try and say
I'll overcome by my own strength
I've been the one to fall apart
And to start to question who You are...

I've been the one to believe
That where I am You cannot reach

You're the one who conquers giants
You're the one who calls out kings
You shut the mouths of lions
You tell the dead to breathe
You're the one who walks through fire
You take the orphan's hand
You are the one Messiah
You are I am
You are I am"

—Mercy Me

Music to inspire you: 'You Are I Am'—Mercy Me

I Have to Wait and See, He's Not Finished with Me Yet

"When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God."
—Rev. Charles L. Allen 

Hebrews 6:15 says:
"And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise."

My devotional for today (Dec. 5th) in The Daily God Book was just what I needed to read—especially one of the verses in the passage from Hebrews that went along w/ it. For a while now, I've been lazy w/ my devotional reading. Instead of looking up the passage of scripture that goes w/ the daily reading, I'll just read whatever verse they've picked from it and have printed on the page. I was just trying to "get by"—doing the bare-minimum if you will. Tonight, however, I looked up the entire section in Hebrews in my Bible (imagine that!), and I actually read all 20 verses. (I didn't even use my Bible app, I broke out the real, tangible book. Go me.) 

I'm glad I read the whole thing, because if I hadn't I wouldn't have read verse 15—which is the verse that really spoke to me. It's referring to when God made his promise to Abraham and how it didn't happen right away. Abraham had to wait, but after doing so he "obtained the promise." =) Patience is the key. It seems like it's always the key, for me.

Part of the reason why I've been skimming through scripture is because I get tired, but I want to make sure I get in my "God time", so I do what I can. I was thinking tonight how silly that is. It reminds me of relationships. If one person is putting in all the effort, eventually they'll get weary and decide it's just not worth it anymore. It hurts being the one to put yourself out there all the time while feeling like the other person is only giving you whatever time they have leftover from their day. 

I've been doing that w/ God lately, and I know I shouldn't. Most of the time, my life is busy. This is true. 100% fact. I work a full time job (again) as a designer, while at the same time running my coffee shop w/ my sister. So, yes, 9 times out of 10 when I get home all I want to do is lay on the couch and be lazy. However, laying on my bed and fully focusing on God (instead of halfway focusing) can do much more to enrich my life, if I let it. Sure, I can still watch TV and just let my mind rest from all the thinking and analyzing, but I shouldn't do that so much that I get used to the idea of not truly focusing on God at all. Hence why I went the full mile tonight. ;P

Back to the verse for today... It really spoke to me, because my life is so busy. My days are full so they're pretty much routine Mon-Sat. It gets old, boring, and a little disappointing sometimes, I won't lie. However, that's life. We have to, once again, "patiently endure." Life's not always "rainbows and butterflies", but if we look hard enough we can discover little things in the mean time to enjoy. Instead of watching the pot boil, why not look out the window instead?

"Still wondering why I'm here
Still wrestling with my fear
But oh, He's up to something
And the farther on I go
I've seen enough to know
That I'm, not here for nothing
He's up to something

There is hope for me yet
Because God won't forget
All the plans he's made for me
I have to wait and see
He's not finished with me yet"

—Brandon Heath

Music to inspire you: 'Wait and See'—Brandon Heath

Twenty-One Days to Optimism: Day 21

I am thankful so much for spending time w/ my extended family this Thanksgiving. We drove out to OH today to stay a few nights at my cousins. Friday afternoon, the rest of our extended family came over to eat dessert, have a good time and enjoy each other's company. It's not often we're altogether at one time. Years pass before we see each other so it was great to be able to make the time for one another. I hope it's not years before we do this again. (Pics to come...)

Twenty-One Days to Optimism: Day 20

This night I am thankful for an evening out—consisting of pizza and a movie—w/ some of "the old gang." Back when we were in highschool, my friends and I would meet practically every Friday night at our local pizza place to grab dinner and then walk around the corner to catch a movie. These were the beginning days of freedom, as some of us had just received our licenses. Tonight we relived those days as part of a belated 25th bday celebration for me.

It started out as a girls' night out dancing, but a few of my friends couldn't make that, so I planned dinner and a movie as Part II of my birthday fun. Since a lot of my friends were married, we got the whole gang together. It was great. We ate dinner, caught each other up on our lives, then saw Breaking Dawn Part II. (Ridiculous and completely a teenage girl movie, I know, but hey we all enjoyed it—even the guys!) It was nice to forget about adulthood for a moment and pretend we were back living the care-free days of a teenager.

Go Team Boo Boo. ;)

Twenty-One Days to Optimism: Day 19

Today, I am thankful for Pinterest. This site has inspired so many things: crafts, decor, new baked goods at my coffee shop... My list can go on.

Just today I made these HOMEMADE Pancake Mini Muffins, and they gooood! I figured we could test them out at the shop and see how they sell. Mmm mm mmmm...

Not my pic, wish it was.

Other things I've made via Pinterest:

Made these for our shops One Year Anniversary Party.

 

 

Halloween 2012

Along with a Homemade Apple Pie I made. ;P

Twenty-One Days to Optimism: Day 18

Tonight, I am thankful for heart-to-heart conversations w/ my mom. I usually keep a lot of things to myself, but sometimes you just need to let it all out.